Avantax, Inc. (NASDAQ:AVTA) Sees Large Increase in Short Interest

Avantax, Inc. (NASDAQ:AVTA) was the recipient of a large increase in short interest in the month of August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 1,120,000 shares, an increase of 34.4% from the August 15th total of 833,500 shares. Currently, 3.2% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 424,100 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.6 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. Cantor Fitzgerald lowered Avantax from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price target for the company from $27.00 to $26.00 in a report on Monday, September 11th. Barrington Research downgraded Avantax from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 12th. William Blair downgraded shares of Avantax from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, September 11th. Finally, Benchmark cut their price objective on shares of Avantax from $32.00 to $30.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 11th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Avantax presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $28.67.

Avantax Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of Avantax stock opened at $25.57 on Friday. Avantax has a 12-month low of $17.94 and a 12-month high of $30.23. The company has a quick ratio of 2.37, a current ratio of 2.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. The business’s 50 day moving average is $23.37 and its 200-day moving average is $23.77. The stock has a market cap of $939.95 million, a P/E ratio of 3.49, a P/E/G ratio of 4.62 and a beta of 1.28.

Avantax (NASDAQ:AVTA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 9th. The company reported $0.09 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.17 by ($0.08). Avantax had a negative return on equity of 2.52% and a net margin of 49.57%. The firm had revenue of $186.93 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $187.91 million. Equities research analysts predict that Avantax will post 0.37 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Avantax

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AVTA. California State Teachers Retirement System acquired a new position in shares of Avantax in the second quarter valued at $994,000. Nuveen Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Avantax during the 2nd quarter worth about $2,867,000. Alliancebernstein L.P. bought a new position in Avantax in the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,112,000. Wells Fargo & Company MN acquired a new stake in Avantax during the second quarter worth approximately $420,000. Finally, State of Tennessee Treasury Department bought a new stake in shares of Avantax during the second quarter worth approximately $584,000. Institutional investors own 91.63% of the company’s stock.

Avantax Company Profile

Avantax, Inc provides wealth management solutions to consumers, small business owners, tax professionals, financial professionals, and certified public accounting firms in the United States. The company offers an integrated platform of technical, practice, compliance, operations, sales, and product support tools that enable to offer tax-advantaged planning, investing, and wealth management services.